The Silent Minority: What Real Vampires Think About the Fad

A vampire-obsessed entertainment business has saturated us with a new lore. It started with the best selling novel Twilight, and has gained momentum since its movie adaptation and newly released sequel. Hollywood seems to have forgotten an affected minority in their bloodlust for new hits - the actual vampires. Some know of this small subculture. Most don't. I'm here to tell you that they are real, and they don't seem to like this "fad."

The vampires seem alienated, keeping their nocturnal life private from friends and family; if they gave me a name, it was only their first.

They may be upset, but don't worry, they won't bite.

"We're not violent," says Grace, a self-proclaimed vampire at 19, "and we only feed off the willing."

Feed is a term that makes me nervous. I wonder: Are there really people out there sucking blood?

But Rem, a SDSU student and a vampire, explains, "We like to say that there are three main types of vampires: those that feed from blood, those that feed from energy, and those that feed from sexual energy. Sanguinarian, Psychic and Tantric respectively.

Much to my relieve, Rem is a psychic vampire.

But Lance, who's age and locations I was asked not to reveal, is what is referred to as Sanguinarian. He feeds off blood.

"I have three human donors that I rotate out. I only drink about three times a month," he says

But the question to be asked is why?

Lance says, "with people like me it makes us feel good. our thinking becomes clear and it gives us energy."

He tells me most of the vampire community dislikes the "fad."

"It's not necessarily the people," he adds, "you can't blame someone for being ignorant when they are reading and hearing everything they can."

I sense the animosity against "the establishment," but then again he may just be feeding off my "psyc waves."

"I hate it," Rem says, "it's telling people what we aren't and giving us a completely different image."

The taste of misrepresentation is almost universal, but not all vampires dislike the Twilight craze.

"I love Twilight," Grace tells me, "it is a very good fictional book." She goes on to tell me how it doesn't show their true character.

True character?

"At first," Rem explains, "vampire culture was publicized as being dark and mysterious, and we liked that."

Vampirism has a long history of mystery. Ever since its original conception in the Bram Stoker novel Dracula in 1897. But most of their lore is seeped in movie adaptations.

With every new film comes new traditions in the vampire world.

Rem tells me that basing your beliefs of vampires on things like Twilight is like basing your views of Christianity on The Divinci Code.

Now, vampirism has seemed to have grown another subgroup-the "Sparkling ones." But for the most part, Vampires; true vampires, exist in private and among themselves. They meet in clubs, homes, and through the Internet.

Still, whether you believe in them or even believe them, These people most defiantly do. It may be "eclectic" as Rem says, but it is earnestly practiced. "If there was anything I'd want people to see, it's that our beliefs deserve the same respect as any other person's," he says.

"I practice it because I believe I'm a vampire," Rem concludes, "and that others are vampires, too."